4. Caterina of Siena in the Writings of Observant Poor Clares: Caterina Vigri and Camilla Battista of Varano

Silvia Serventi

doi:10.54195/XFRB6134

4. Caterina of Siena in the Writings of Observant Poor Clares: Caterina Vigri and Camilla Battista of Varano

Authors

Silvia Serventi

University of Bologna

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54195/XFRB6134_CH04

Synopsis

This chapter charts the reception of the letters of Caterina of Siena, herself a very important propagator of Observant reforms (notably within a Dominican ambiance) and a new model of Observant spirituality, in the writings of other Observant spokes(wo)men. The chapters focuses in particular on traces of such reception in the writings of the Clarissan abbesses Caterina Vigri and Camilla Battista of Varano, who were instrumental in creating an Observant Clarissan identity in fifteenth-century Italy.

Author Biography

Silvia Serventi, University of Bologna

Silvia Serventi graduated in Classics at the University of Bologna in 1998 with a dissertation entitled Prediche per le monache di San Giorgio di Lucca; she obtained the PhD in Italian studies at the University of Turin in 2005; she has benefited from various scholarships including the “Borsa di studio Vittore Branca” at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa between 2008 and 2009. She edited Giordano da Pisa’s Avventuale fiorentino, the letters of spiritual direction by Girolamo da Siena and Bianco da Siena’s complete collection of laudi. She has dealt with the writings of the Poor Clares of the Observance, editing the volume with minor works by Caterina Vigri and the Latin and vernacular text of the Trattato della purità del cuore by Battista da Varano. She teaches Art history at the high school and deals with Italian religious literature of the late Middle Ages and the early modern age. She collaborates with the Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo on the project for the edition of Catherine of Siena’s letters.